Duality of Vengeance
by theBoomSchtick
Summary: Natasha and Fox have been friends since childhood, and both have lost those they love to Andross. Together, with the Star Fox team, they take on their ultimate mission of eliminating Andross given to them by General Pepper himself. With the same goal in mind, they set off to finally avenge those they have lost. But will Natasha's hidden feelings interfere with their goal? (Semi-AU)


There he was. Fox Mccloud.

The one and only. With his usual smug grin on his face, he stood by the railing in the hangar, watching over his Arwing while Slippy worked his magic on it. As usual, he was humming that same annoying tune he hummed when he was thinking. Did I hate the tune? Kinda. But only because it was kinda catchy.

I let out a sigh as I finished looking over my energy shotgun. My lovely Misha. She was an old one, but I wouldn't go anywhere with another weapon. Why would I when this one had gotten me out of so many shitty situations? With my inspection finished, I leaned back in my chair, putting my feet up on the table. Usually, Fox would nag me about it, telling me that I might hurt myself if I fell over. But you know what? I'm a stubborn woman, and dammit, I will lean in my chair if I want!

I saw Fox look over, spotting me leaning back and immediately coming over to nag me. Again.

"Natasha, why do you keep ignoring my warnings about doing that?"

I chuckled, stretching as I looked at Fox, one eye closed.

"Because I think safety is for suckers."

Hey, I'm a bear, alright? Rules and safety kinda just slow us down. Or piss us off.

"I don't know why I bother." Fox said with a laugh.

"Me neither."

Fox just shook his head and turned around. While I didn't listen to him most of the time, it still felt nice to know he cared, even if he likely would never feel the same about me the way I felt about him. We knew each other since before we were in school, my family having escaped to Papetoon after... an unfortunate event. When I got to know Fox, I immediately grew romantically fond of him, even if he was too oblivious to notice. Now, with his rising fame as a mercenary, he noticed even less.

But that wasn't important. He was still my friend, and I would always have his back, the same way I knew he would have mine. Most of the time, it was him having my back, considering how often I screwed up, but I digress. Point is, we're there for each other, and always will be.

As I yawned, I heard two sets of footsteps rapidly approaching. Ignoring them, I went to pull out my knife for an inspection when the owner of one set of those footsteps decided to knock themselves into my fucking chair.

And it was at that moment when I realized why Fox nagged me so much.

I was mid-fall when I spotted the culprit: Miyu Lynx. Of course. If that girl was anything, it was rambunctious and wild, unlike her pal Fay, who was actually responsible. While falling, my natural reaction was to yell at her, letting her know just how I felt rather than catching myself. Fortunately for me, someone caught me, but they were very obviously struggling with my weight. Once again, I'm a bear. We're just big, not fat.

At least that's what I tell myself.

"Dammit, Miyu, help me!" the unmistakable angry voice of Falco demanded.

Miyu just stuck her tongue out at Falco and carried on, her arms up in the air triumphantly.

"I won the race, so nothing else matters!"

"We weren't even... Just fucking help!"

I rolled my eyes, standing up. Falco looked relieved and shot a glare at an uncaring Miyu.

"Or, I could just get up. Thanks for catching me, feather-head."

Falco huffed and mumbled a half-hearted "You're welcome" before carrying on. Looking over at Fox, he gave me a look that screamed, "What did I say?" Yeah, yeah, you smug, handsome douche. Not like I was going to change anything. Especially since I really didn't get hurt at all. If you couldn't tell, stubbornness is my strong suit, much to the vexation of Fox, as well as Peppy, who never left the ship's bridge these days.

No longer sitting down, I decided to actually do something productive. By productive, I mostly mean just fucking around in the gym. Gathering my things, I started to head to the gym to do exactly that when I remembered something. Approaching Fox quietly, before he had the chance to react, I grabbed him by the waist and lifted him onto my shoulder, running straight to the gym.

Fox let out a yelp as I rushed onward, ducking his head to avoid hitting a door frame. I needed someone to do my workout with, and who better than with the best martial artist I personally knew? He knew how to do combat styles that I couldn't even pronounce! I could do, like, kickboxing and stuff, but nothing like he could do. I was just fortunate that I possessed an ungodly amount of strength.

When I reached the gym, I wasted no time tossing Fox into the ring in the center. Kicking off my boots and removing my shirt, I did a few stretches as Fox figured out what was happening.

"Dammit, I was watching over my Arwing! I don't feel like sparring right now, you bull-headed furball." Fox complained.

I just shrugged.

"Well that sure sucks, 'cuz as soon as I'm done stretching, we're getting started."

He groaned, clearly not wanting to spar. We've sparred before, but he was bored of it because he always won. Hell, I might be big and strong, but he's got unmatched skill. Kinda hard to win when your opponent actually knows what the hell they're doing, but I was still going to try, goddammit.

"Fine. You know, if you'd actually let me teach you, this wouldn't be so hard for you."

Once again, I just shrugged. What good was teaching me if I was going to just forget it when I needed it most, as I did so often? None, that's what. I was better off honing what technique I already knew.

Finishing my stretch, I got into the ring, seeing that Fox had removed his boots and shirt as well. Not being a creepy weirdo and staring at his body, I got into my fighting stance. Fox also got into his, keeping low and spread out a bit. To most, it would have seemed obvious that I was going to destroy him, being much bigger and a foot taller. In addition, I was also pretty damn muscular, though he was as well.

Unfortunately for me, that wasn't the case. As we circled each other, Fox giving a blank, unamused look, I knew I was pretty much screwed from the start. But I couldn't improve if I won every time, could I? Against most people, I won fairly easily, as I knew from experience. This was mostly due to my strength. But against Fox...

It was kinda embarrassing.

"Go!" Fox shouted, darting toward me.

I reacted by getting low as well, faking a swing before lashing out fast with my leg. He caught on fast, dodging both and rolling right passed me. When I swept my leg to try to land a hit on him, he just dodged again. And to be honest, I was getting pissed.

But he wanted that.

I usually acted rashly when I was angry, causing me to make mistakes. Wouldn't do me any good to have that happen, would it? Following where he was headed, I lunged, but struck out with my leg in the direction he was moving when he dodge. Much to my surprise, I manged to strike him, sending him flying. Naturally, I was shocked. I had never actually managed to land a hit on him before. Of course, I knew I still had to beat him.

Taking the opportunity, I rushed over to him to get him while he was down. However, as I reached him, I remembered something a bit too late.

He was likely expecting this.

Skidding to a halt, I tried to stop myself before Fox went low, grabbing my waist and using my weight against me. Immediately, I was flipped, hitting the ground hard. My breath was knocked from my lungs, causing me to cough in pain.

It fucking _sucked_.

"And just like that, I win again."

Reaching out a desperate arm, I was lifted to my feet by Fox. Unfortunately for me, the room was still spinning, and I required Fox to help me walk.

"Dammit. I thought I had something going there. Obviously, I'm not there yet." I said more to myself than Fox.

While I staved off sudden onset nausea, Fox brought me to the common area. In the room was a blue spinning blur that I assumed was Krystal, likely reading one of those cheesy Cornerian magazines, as she had come to be so fond of. The other blur in the room was white, most likely being Fay.

Feeling a seat, I sat down and let myself settle, my vision fixing itself and proving me to be right. Krystal spotted me, giving a quick smile and wave, which I returned in a half-assed manner. Fay, on the other hand, was busy typing on her holo-phone. I assumed she was playing some kind of game, as she usually did. Fox sat down next to me after grabbing some kind of soda for the two of us. Opening his, he turned to me.

"You did well this time. Landing a hit actually caught me off guard, and to be honest, if you followed through with that charge you would have crushed me. But you second-guessed yourself." Fox explained, pointing a finger at me in disapproval.

Krystal looked up from her magazine, a smile tugging at her mouth. I wasn't sure what she was smiling at, but I hoped she wasn't amused by my failure.

Though, it was kinda funny.

As I went to ask her what was so amusing, Fay looked up from her game and smiled brightly at me.

"I'm so glad you're improving! If it were me, I'd have, like, _died_!"

To be honest, that felt good to hear.

"Thanks, Fay. This is why I like you more than Miyu."

"Hey!"

Turning around, I saw Miyu standing there with her arms crossed. I just shrugged as I put my shirt back on, making Miyu roll her eyes and smile.

"Well, it's the truth." I joked.

Miyu laughed, sitting across from me.

"Hey, Fox! What are we gonna spend the money from the last bounty on?" Miyu asked. "I hope we buy some better furniture!"

Fox shook his head, taking a drink from his soda.

"Miyu, you already know we're spending the money on the ship. We still have that huge debt on it."

Miyu groaned loudly, obviously upset at the idea.

"That sucks! We'll never get over this debt!"

The debt was from Fox's father, who bought the ship with loans. Of course, after he was murdered, that left his son with the debt. It was a terrible thing, and Fox didn't deserve it. I mean, my family was dead too, but they weren't murdered. Unlike the others of my race...

Fox had a lot of shit happen to him. Stuff that he would tell nobody. Not even me. For such a good-hearted and brave guy, he had some terrible luck. It still baffled me that he was so trusting of people.

Turning to Miyu, Fox let our a sigh.

"Of course we will. It'll just... take a while. I promise."

Miyu nodded her head, seeming somewhat satisfied with the reply. She just went to reading a magazine that was left on the table. It was one similar to what Krystal was reading, the contents of which being the latest gossip and whatnot. Miyu was kind of a tomboy, but she had a feminine side to her for sure. Usually, though, she and I would snag one of Falco's Blaster Insider magazines and read that. But I supposed it was nice to just see "What sex position suits you and your partner best?" every once in a while.

Nothing wrong with that, right?

Stretching, I looked back over my shotgun, running a hand over the smooth metal. Most say that an energy shotgun is pointless, but that's because they've never been on the business end of one. Nothing says crowd control and power like a good ol' fashioned DEK-14. It might be a bit outdated, but they don't make 'em like my Misha anymore.

"So, Natasha. Have you considered replacing that weapon?" Krystal asked.

Krystal may not have seemed like the weapons expert... and she wasn't. But she certainly had an affinity for big guns. In fact, she owned the biggest gun out of all of us, including me.

"Nope. I like this gun a bit much to replace it. How would you feel about replacing your Gatling gun?"

"Good point."

Laughing a bit, I looked down at my shotgun. Maybe I wouldn't replace it, but perhaps upgrade it? I knew that Slippy knew his shit, so I could probably talk to him about it. He had quite a bit on his hands at the moment, however, so it would have to wait.

Oh well. Not really a big deal.

Fox finished his drink and got up to leave, presumably heading to the bridge. As he left, Falco entered, giving Fox a friendly pat on the shoulder. Falco took Fox's place, putting his feet up on the table.

"Damn, I'm bored. Fox better find something to do soon, or I'm going to lose my mind!" Falco complained.

"Not _everyone_ is as anxious to fight everyone and everything, you know. Plus, we just went on a mission." Fay said, her eyes glued to her game.

Falco let out a loud groan, sliding down further on the couch. Way to be mature, Falco.

"I know, but it's so lame around this ship. We should either go on a mission, or go to Corneria. Actually, anything at all would be fine."

Fox came running into the room, a smile on his face.

"Everyone! I just got a mission from General Pepper himself! Venomian forces have been spotted near Corneria, and the CDF needs all the help they can get!"

The CDF? Ugh. A bunch of bureaucratic assholes that thought keeping a small army would keep the peace. Right, because that's working so damn well, right?

"Hell yeah! You won't believe what we were just talking about, Fox!" Falco shouted.

Fox chuckled, entering the room completely.

"I know, I know. Always one for action, aren't you?" Fox said.

Getting up from our seats, everyone rushed to go get ready. I was already prepared, but it wouldn't hurt to check over my ship. I was kind of a lousy pilot, but not as bad as Slippy. So hopefully, these Venomian guys weren't so skilled.

Reaching the hangar, I spotted my Arwing and rushed to it. It was made to fit my size, having a larger cockpit and, at my request, larger guns. It looked to be in working condition, but I had to know for sure. Seeing Slippy, I shouted over to him.

"Hey Slippy! Is my ship combat ready?"

He nodded his head and gave a thumbs up.

"Yep! Just got through inspecting all of the ships."

"Thanks, Slip."

All the others arrived, gear together. Fox went over the situation with us, explaining that Venom had sent an attack force to Corneria, and that the rest of the CDF won't arrive as reinforcements in time. So, we would arrive, take out the big ships, and get paid. Easy.

"Alright, team. We're almost there, so get into your Arwings. Once we're there, I want Falco and Natasha with me. Fay and Miyu, use your interceptors to keep them from flanking. Krystal and Slippy, I want you to help defend the Great Fox."

We all nodded, and Krystal kind of looked a bit upset at being put on the defensive. Approaching the resident telepath, I put a hand on her shoulder, making her look up at me.

"Hey, don't feel too upset by it. You're a much better pilot than me, so surely Fox gave you that task for a reason. Personally, I think it's more important than whatever Miyu and Fay are doing." I said, speaking up so Miyu could hear me.

Miyu just flipped me the bird, and I laughed. Krystal smiled up at me laughing as well.

"Thank you, Natasha. It's just that I feel as though Fox doesn't trust in my skills."

I thought about it, but had a question in mind.

"Wait, you're a telepath. Why don't you read his thoughts to find out why?"

Krystal scoffed at the idea.

"Because that's wrong. Invading someone's mind is just disrespectful, as well as dishonorable."

As if I give a shit about either of those. Oh well. If she insisted, I wouldn't push her to do it. As everyone got into their Arwings, I opened my cockpit and set my shotgun inside, squeezing inside. Shutting the cockpit, I switched my Arwing on and activated my targeting computer, the screen popping up to show that I had no target selected.

Getting settled into my seat, I could see that we had arrived and that the battle had already begun. Fox took off first, followed by the rest of us. I sped through the hangar, following Fox out and into the fray. Looking around, I saw that there were five Venomian battleships, outnumbering the three Cornerian battleships. Venomian fighters swarmed the space around the battleships, red lasers firing rapidly through the vacuum of space.

"Team, our focus is on those battleships. Keep the fighters off of me, and I'll take care of the ship itself, over." Fox said over the radio.

"Affirmative, Fox." I said into the radio.

Fox received a few more affirmations as we targeted the closest battleship. Naturally, the fighters surrounding it came right for us. Taking aim, I opened fire, scattering the fighters while Falco picked off the remaining fighters. I followed Fox as he blasted his way to a point under the battleship. Fox fired torpedoes at an exposed section on the bottom, blowing it apart.

A group of fighters was head our way, so I fired into the group, taking out all but one, who I chased down. Catching him with my targeting computer, I tracked his next move and opened fire, the fighter slamming into a barrage of lasers. I went to catch up with Fox and Falco when my shields flared up. Looking back, I saw a trio of fighters behind me.

Reducing my speed, two flew passed me and were obliterated, the last having been smart enough to slow down as well. He followed close, draining my shields. I tried to shake him, but he persisted. Just when my shields had reached critical levels, a report of lasers incinerated the fighter.

"Not so useless now, am I?" Miyu bragged over the radio.

"Shut the fuck up, Miyu." I replied.

"You know I'm right though." Miyu said before going back to shooting down fighters.

Whatever, Miyu.

Finally reaching Fox and Falco, I assisted Falco with taking out a pair of fighters headed for Fox. Approaching the bridge of the battleship, Fox opened fire and destroyed the bridge. He then did a quick 180 and opened fire on the engines. The plasma engines immediately exploded, as did the entire rear section of the ship.

"One down, four to go." Fox said.

Thank you, Fox. Because I'm just so fucking stupid that I can't count, right?

Fox wasted no time in attacking the engines of the next battleship, avoiding turret fire. To assist, I destroyed the ship's rear turrets as Fox eliminated the engines. Unfortunately, the engines did not cause a chain reaction that destroyed the whole ship this time. To deal with this issue, we had to come up with something else. Seeing the ship's open hangar, I had an idea.

"Fox, that hangar is open. A torpedo should create a nice big explosion for us."

"Good thinking, over."

Fox did just that, firing a torpedo into the hangar. By sheer luck, he hit what I believed to be a spare ammunition shipment. With a huge, blue, fiery ball of death, the ship was practically vaporized.

Damn this was easy.

We targeted the next battleship when something unexpected happened. One of the battleships began to speed toward one of the Cornerian ships. The CDF ship attempted to move, but the rear was hit hard by the suicidal battleship. Then, I noticed multiple other ships escaping from the larger battleship. I opened fire on them, but the distance made it hard for me to be effective, and I only hit a few.

Suddenly, the Venomian battleship exploded in a massive explosion, taking the CDF ship with it. I then noticed the other battleships doing something similar. The two other CDF ships seemed to understand what was happening in time, as they moved out of the way, attempting to avoid the suicide ships. There was just one problem.

When the CDF ships got out of the way, the Venomian ships began heading to the planet's surface.

"All members of the Star Fox team, target the engines of those ships NOW! Do not let them reach the surface!"

We did as told, rushing to the battleships and opening fire. I fired all of my torpedoes, striking the engines of a ship and disabling it. The others kept firing, attempting to avoid auto-turret fire. I assisted my team by taking out as many turrets as possible, using my targeting computer to quickly dispatch the automated defenses. Once the turrets were down, my team quickly destroyed the engines.

Once the engines were down, the CDF ships opened fire and completely annihilated the Venomian battleships. I spotted the escaping transports and headed after them.

"They're escaping! Don't let these bastards get away!" I said into my radio.

"No, Natasha. If they're retreating, we are to-"

"Too damn bad."

I sped toward the transports, despite Fox's protests. Miyu and Falco also followed, opening fire on the escaping transports. They were faster than we were, but our lasers were faster than they were. Before the transports got out of range, half of the entire escaping fleet was eliminated.

"All of you, into the Great Fox. Now."

Doing as ordered, we headed into the Great Fox, followed by the rest of the team.

I hopped out of my Arwing, spotting Krystal.

"Did you get any action, Blue?"

Krystal nodded her head.

"Of course. They targeted our ship in large numbers, though they went to defend the battleships after the first went down."

Fox exited his Arwing, an angry look on his face. He threw his helmet onto a table, rapidly approaching me.

"What the hell were you thinking? You disobeyed a direct order. They were _retreating_. It's wrong to attack a defenseless enemy."

I huffed, rolling my eyes.

"Oh yeah? According to who? They suicide bombed the CDF ships! I may not like the CDF, but I sure as hell won't let some freaks attack them and get away with it. And then going for civilians? No way in hell."

"Dammit, Natasha, the Cornerian rules of war say not to kill retreating enemies!"

Excuse me?

"Well, _news flash_ , Fox. We aren't the CDF. We do what we want, because those rules don't apply to us. Why do you think they hire mercenaries in the first place?"

Fox put his hand over his face, letting out a groan of frustration.

"The rules are there because going against them is morally _wrong_ , Natasha. Why don't you get that?"

"Because I don't give a flying facefuck about their stupid-ass rules. The Venomians attacked innocents, so we should get to attack them once they're defenseless."

Fox shook his head, turning to leave the hangar.

"Just go do something and leave me alone for a minute. I suggest a _shower_."

How hurtful.

Smelling myself, I recoiled in disgust. Yeah, he was right.

Hey, high-stress situations are no joke, okay?

"Don't feel too bad, Natasha. He probably just wants to have that 'spotless reputation' that he talks about so often." Fay said, skipping passed me and making an almost unnoticeable face of disgust.

"Oh, and maybe he's right. We, uh, all probably could use a shower."

Thanks, Fay. My self-confidence is just _skyrocketing_ right now.

Letting out a sigh, I headed to the showers, followed by Fay, Miyu, and Krystal. Slippy and Falco didn't go to the showers, but that's because Falco was busy working on something, and Slippy just... didn't smell.

Entering the bathroom, I headed to one of the shower stalls and got undressed, turning on the hot water. I didn't want to take long, so I quickly got to lathering up when I heard Miyu in the shower stall next to me.

"So, Natasha. Do you think Fox will get over it soon?"

Letting the water pour over me, I answered Miyu's question.

"Yeah. Ever since we were kids, Fox has never been all that good at staying mad."

"Well that's good. Wouldn't want an angry Fox telling us what to do. I'd be really scared if we made a mistake when he's mad. He's probably kill us with that martial arts stuff he's so good at." Fay speculated.

Rinsing off, I let out another sigh. I sure hoped Fox wasn't too mad. He didn't seem too upset, but he usually wasn't upset at all. That, and he had made it his goal to be some kind of hero like his father. I just prayed it didn't end the same for him. Though, I doubted anyone on the Star Fox team would betray him the way Pigma did to James McCloud.

"I doubt it. But still, I hope he's not too upset. It was quite rash of you to just disobey him like that, Natasha." Krystal said from one of the far stalls.

"Yeah, I know, but how could we just let them get away with that?"

Miyu let out a sigh, humming to herself in thought.

"I dunno. Too late to ask now, right? But I guess next time we should listen to Fox." Miyu suggested.

"Maybe."

Finishing up, I realized I didn't have a towel in my stall. Peaking over the divider between my stall and Miyu's, I saw she had an extra. When she saw me looking, however, she covered herself up and yelled at me.

"What the hell are you doing, you weirdo?"

"Shut up, Miyu. Not like I'm looking at your goods anyway. I just want that extra towel. Kinda don't have one."

Miyu looked at the extra towel, giving a small "oh" before grabbing it and handing it to me. Grabbing the towel, I took another look at Miyu and smiled mischievously.

"Nice tits, by the way."

"Fuck off, Natasha."

Laughing, I dried off and got dressed. Leaving the stall, I gathered the rest of my things and left the bathroom, heading to my room. As soon as I entered, I put my shotgun down on my table and shut the door before laying down on my bed. It wasn't exactly late, but I was still a bit tired. However, as I started to drift to sleep, I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in. Door's unlocked."

The door opened, revealing Fox. He stepped into my room and sat at the foot of my bed, not looking me in the eyes.

"Hey, Natasha. Sorry about earlier, but it's just... you disobeyed me. I'm your friend, but as long as you're on this team, I'm your boss too. That means you have to do as I say. You do know that, right?"

I let out a sigh, sitting up in my bed.

"Yeah, I know. I was talking with the girls about it, and they all agreed that I was out of line when I did that. Even though Miyu did it too, but fuck me, right?" I said with a laugh. "You shouldn't have even apologized to me, Fox. You were justified in your anger, and the fact that I wasn't punished just goes to show that you have done nothing wrong."

"Well, not punishing you for disobeying an order is kinda doing something wrong, right?" Fox said with a laugh.

I chuckled as well, glad Fox wasn't mad.

"Pretty much, yeah. But thanks, Fox. You're a good leader. Always have been."

Fox put an arm around my shoulder in a kind of awkward hug, smiling at me.

"Thanks, Natasha. I couldn't ask for a better friend. Unless I could find one that listened to me." he joked.

Or at least I hoped he was joking.

"Just kidding, of course."

Well alright then.

"Also, I just thought that you should know something. General Pepper told me that he plans on giving us a long-term contract, so I accepted. With the money, we could pay off the ship's debt. But that also means something else."

I already knew what he was hinting at.

"It means we have a reason to kill that bastard Andross." I said.

Fox nodded his head and stood up, heading to my door. He turned around, giving another smile at me.

"Well, sorry to disturb you. I'll wake you up when we get to Corneria. Sleep well."

With that, he left my room, shutting the door softly.

Now alone, I let myself rest, pulling off my top and bra, getting actually comfortable. No longer restricted, I began to drift to sleep. We were finally going to get our revenge, Fox and I. We had our separate reasons for wanting revenge, but we both had that goal in mind. With our team, we were going to get paid for something that we had been wanting to do for so long. Andross had better start praying.

We were coming for him.

* * *

 _Hey, everyone. This is the first chapter of a story requested of me that I actually liked the idea of quite a bit. I know the chapter was a bit short, but it's mostly just to get all of the important things introduced. Updates will be a bit slow, but I will not give the story up. This tale will be seen to the end! So, tell me what you think. Terrible? Not so terrible? Be sure to let me know. All thoughts and ideas help._

 _See you guys later!_


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